A White House official accidentally triggered an inflatable slide on President Donald Trump's Qatari-donated Air Force One plane, causing a delay in his departure from Washington D.C. for the GOP midterm convention in Dallas. The incident occurred just before Trump was set to board the plane and lasted several minutes, during which time he remained on Marine One. There were no reported security concerns, but the incident has added fuel to ongoing concerns about the Qatari-donated jet's security capabilities, which have been questioned by the Secret Service. The plane eventually landed safely in Dallas around 5:15 p.m. ET, a couple of hours later than expected.
Written by the local model on 2026-09-10,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
On Wednesday, an inflatable emergency slide accidentally deployed on Air Force One, a plane gifted by Qatar to the US Air Force, as President Donald Trump was preparing to board. The incident occurred just before Trump was set to leave for Dallas, where he was scheduled to give a speech at the GOP midterm convention. Instead of exiting Marine One immediately to board Air Force One, Trump remained on the helicopter for several minutes while officials investigated the slide. They eventually declared it safe, and Trump boarded the plane, which then took off. The incident caused a brief delay in Trump's departure from Washington.
Written for “Air Force One Incident” on 2026-09-10,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The article's own words the score was based on. Each is quoted
verbatim and was checked against the article text before being
stored, so you can find it in the original.
Leaning score -0.35 for article 7560 (high confidence, 1 verified quote) · logged 2026-09-10
Military personnel accidentally triggered an inflatable slide attached to President Donald Trump’s Qatari-donated Air Force One plane Wednesday, a person briefed on the matter told NBC News.
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person → trigger → News
The slide inflated just before Trump was set to board the plane and head to Dallas for the GOP midterm convention.
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Trump → inflate → convention
Instead of immediately exiting Marine One to board the plane as he usually does, Trump remained on the helicopter for several minutes.
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Trump → exit → minutes
He eventually walked out on the tarmac while officials looked at the slide, telling reporters that they were just “checking the slide.”
“As the President has said, the slide was checked out to make sure everything works perfectly,” White House communications director Steven Cheung said later in a statement.
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Cheung → walk → statement
“Air Force One is on its way to Dallas so he can deliver his much-anticipated speech to a raucous and sold-out crowd.”
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he → deliver → crowd
Trump told reporters before he boarded that there were no security concerns.
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he → tell → reporters
“No, they were checking it before, and they just wanted to make sure.
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they → check → it
So they’ve — I guess they’ve already put it up.
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they → guess → it
They want to make sure everything works perfectly,” he said.
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he → want → ?
Asked again whether he believed the plane was safe to fly, Trump chuckled and said, “Yeah, I am or I wouldn’t be on it.”
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I → ask → it
The plane landed safely in Dallas around 5:15 p.m. ET, a couple of hours later than had been expected.
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plane → land → hours
Concerns have swirled around the Qatari-donated jet’s security capabilities for months, particularly after the Secret Service recommended that Trump instead fly on a plane that had previously been used as Air Force One.
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that → swirl → Force
While White House officials have repeated publicly that the new plane does not have security issues, two sources familiar with the matter acknowledged in July that it does not have all the security measures that are on the older aircraft previously used by Trump.
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that → repeat → Trump
Trump said later in July that the new jet would be sent away to get upgrades to get “maxed out,” though then-press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the time that it was just getting “upgrades and enhancements” and was “perfectly safe” for Trump to use.
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Trump → say → upgrades
The Qatari royal family donated the superluxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet last year for Trump to use while Boeing works to provide long-delayed updated Air Force One planes that are expected in 2028.
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that → donate → 2028
